Month: November 2016

Let’s start by admitting that we’ve been listening to Christmas music since October in the Pinkly Perfect office! Crazy? Definitely. But that’s only because we’ve been SO excited about all the holiday happenings we’ve been planning for you! This is PP’s first ever Christmas so we decided to pull out all the stops. Check out what we’ve got in store:

Festive Packaging

Love our all pink packaging? Pink shipping boxes, Pinkly Perfect packing tape, and pink tissue paper? So do we! But from now until Christmas, we decided to embrace the holidays and pack our hot pink boxes with holiday tissue paper. Red, green, festive stripes and patterns, our office is an elf’s dream! Imagine Mariah Carey playing in the background and it’s like you’re right there with us.

New Items!

Did you miss our holiday gift guide? We launched so many new items specifically with holiday gifting in mind. So whether you’ve got a Secret Santa, summer loving bestie, or teacher to buy for this holiday season, we’ve got you covered. Perfect stocking (or locker!) stuffers that you can get with free shipping at pinklyperfect.com.

25 Days of Christmas

They say save the best for last for a reason right?! Well what we are most excited for this holiday season is our 25 Days of Christmas promotion that we’ll be running exclusively at pinklyperfect.com. Every day of December, a new product will be 25% OFF for that day only. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to see which product you can snatch, OR sign up for our newsletter on our homepage to get the entire list on December 1st. We recommend that way so you can plan your holiday shopping accordingly!

From all of us at Pinkly Perfect (spoiler alert: it’s just me!), we wish you a very happy holiday season! 🙂

I take gift-giving very seriously and know from experience that the biggest mistake around the holidays is waiting too long to start shopping for your favorite people. That is why I decided to post our Pinkly Perfect Holiday Gift Guide early this year so you can plan accordingly.

In addition to our current line (all of which we know make great gifts), we designed some products specifically with Christmas gifting in mind. The below ideas are perfect for besties, sisters, moms, teachers…anyone who needs a little reminder of summer vacation. Take a look at our picks, all made in the USA and available on our website:

I’m a firm believer that when in doubt, get the girl a cosmetic pouch. And since it’s the holiday, get a festive one. Our Newport Cosmetic Bags have been one of our best sellers since we launched in April so we decided to make a limited edition version for the Christmas season. The Newport Bag now comes in silver, red, and green glitter. Perfect for if you’re buying in threes (three daughters, three cousins, three besties…).

It’s no secret that I am completely obsessed with the Madison Bracelet. It’s the perfect wear-with-anything accessory and also makes a great gift. It’s a super soft textured metallic leather (available in gold or silver) with a debossed seahorse and painted pink back and sides. I wear mine every day and love pairing it with our zip code bracelets for a little arm candy action. At Pinkly Perfect, we believe metallics are neutrals so we’ll be wearing this one all year long.

You can’t give a gift without giving a card! And if you’re buying for a summer lover, you better pick up a Christmas card that also incorporates the beach! That’s why we added the Christmas Dennis Greeting Card in addition to our other cards. This one’s silver foil print with a metallic envelope and left blank inside so you can write a more personal note.

This is a big week! A short work week (thank goodness), Thanksgiving, Gilmore Girls Revival (!!!!!!), Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.

SO many exciting things! And reasons to shop. So between your turkey dinners, pumpkin pie desserts, and curling up in leggings watching hours of Netflix, make sure you check out Pinkly Perfect to grab some summer inspired fashion and accessories perfect for the off-season…

…all on sale. YEP! On Saturday, November 26th, in honor of Small Business Saturday, you’ll be able to use coupon code SMALLBIZZ at checkout to get 15% off everything on our website!

But it’s just for Saturday so make sure you plan accordingly. It’ll be a perfect way to stock up on our holiday merchandise that you could use as Christmas gifts for your favorite summer lovers. Grab a bunch of zip code bracelets for all your beach town friends, a festive Newport Cosmetic Bag for your Secret Santa, a Madison Bracelet for your bestie, and Montauk Totes for your favorite teachers.

Pinkly Perfect launched a festive version of our best-selling Newport Cosmetic Bags! Pick one up in green, silver, or red glitter for this holiday season.

And if you haven’t signed up for our newsletter, make sure you do so soon on our homepage! We heard from Santa’s elves there’ll be some extra treats this holiday season…

It’s official! Pinkly Perfect has caught the holiday baking bug. With just one week until it’s “acceptable” to start listening to Christmas music, we are already planning what recipes we’ll be taking on this holiday season.

And in typical Pinkly Perfect fashion, we’re looking to pink-ify the standard winter treats for something a little more on brand. Below is what we found!

Candy Cane Pink Hot Chocolate

Uhhhm whaaat….we were SO excited to find this recipe for easy candy cane pink hot chocolate from Real Housemoms. What could be better than cozying up with your besties, Netflix (hello, Gilmore Girls), and a hot cup of something pink and chocolate-y covered with whipped cream and candy canes? Nothing.

White Christmas Peppermint Layer Cake

We can’t wait to make this vanilla layer cake with pink peppermint frosting. Perfect for a girls’ night in party or for Christmas Eve with the family. Check out the recipe from Midwest Living here.

Pink Velvet Cookies

What’s the holiday season without Christmas cookies?! Instead of the traditional red velvet cookies, take any recipe and sub pink food coloring for red. Same delicious taste, just prettier. Picture above from Desserts With Benefits.

What other ideas do you have for holiday baking? Let us know in the comments section!

Since our launch in April, Pinkly Perfect has gotten SO many requests from summer lovers looking to rep their favorite beach town with our zip code bracelets and coordinate keychains! Turns out I may have been on to something with this beach town pride thing…

While I hope someday very soon I can provide perfect summer accessories for every beach town in the USA, I have had to make some baby steps and add only the most requested for now.

Cape May, NJ Zip Code Bracelet available at Pete Smith’s Surf Shop and our Madison Bracelet available at pinklyperfect.com and Serendipity Shops of Doylestown and Avalon.

We are SO excited to keep growing and hopefully be able to add so many more beach towns in the next couple months! If you want to see your beach town represented, send us an email at maddy@pinklyperfect.com or leave a comment here and we’ll do what we can to get it to you ASAP!

Note: all of Pinkly Perfect’s merchandise is also available at Serendipity Shops of Doylestown. The line is also represented at Mia’s Christmas Gallery in Ocean City, NJ, Serendipity Shops of Avalon in Avalon, New Jersey, Pete Smith’s Surf Shop in Cape May, NJ, and ishBoutique in Ocean City, Maryland.

YAY! Hands down my favorite addition to the Pinkly Perfect assortment has just arrived to pinklyperfect.com. (Just in time for holiday gift-giving…)

If you shop with us at Serendipity Shops of Doylestown (our display’s in the back left corner of the store) or Serendipity Shops of Avalon, you’ve probably seen these beauties already. And if you haven’t, now’s your chance.

Our zip code leather bracelets have been so popular that we wanted to expand on our leather accessories and create something for every girl, regardless of her favorite beach town.

The Madison Bracelet is real leather, made in the USA, and comes in metallic gold or silver with a debossed seahorse (Pinkly Perfect’s logo!). The best part? The sides and back are sprayed our signature pink to perfectly pair with your other accessories, like our Cape Cod Pouch with pink glitter or your coordinate keychain for your favorite seaside oasis. For only $24, it’s a steal and a perfect stocking stuffer this holiday season.

Our Madison Bracelet pairs perfectly with scarves and coffee too!

Pick a couple up for yourself, your friends, teachers, or family members who need a reminder of summer vacation all year, especially over the cold holidays!

Keep following us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitterfor more updates and additions to our collection and tag your pics #showusyourperfect for a chance to get featured!

It’s no secret at Pinkly Perfect that we’re girls’ girls. Our target is beach loving teenage girls and we want to provide clothing and accessories that 1. capture the magic of summer vacation all year (duh) and 2. give our girls options to embrace the age they are, rather than feeling pressured to grow up too quickly. Our styles are girly, quirky, and capture beach town pride in a way that is competitive in a fun way.

Sometimes though, as women, we can be our own worst enemy. Last week at Inc. Magazine’s Women’s Summit, there were many panel discussions where women didn’t agree on very personal issues (more serious than if you think your beach town is better than mine…which is also serious). Regardless of their differences, they listened and treated each other with respect. This is where the magic happens. That is why they are able to be successful entrepreneurs.

An organization that does just that is Girls Loft. Taken from their About Page on their website, “Girls Loft is an inspiration project to help ladies find their side hustle, turn hobbies into careers and cultivate a more meaningful daily grind.” I love that they use successful women to inspire others who are looking to make the leap, or may just be feeling a little uninspired in general.

Lovers of summer and Christmas must suffer the eternal struggle of never getting to experience both together (at least those of us who live where it gets cold!). To celebrate your two greatest loves, try spending this holiday season at one of your favorite beach towns. These events will make the most wonderful time of the year that much better!

Finally, keep the holiday spirit alive by ringing in the new year by the ocean. Ocean City, Sea Isle City, and Seaside Heights each offer a night of fun and entertainment concluding with grand displays of fireworks to help you celebrate the new year right.

Pinkly Perfect wishes you and your family and friends a very happy holiday season! We hope you enjoy the best day of the year in the best place at these fun events!

It was an all day event for women entrepreneurs and included Q&A panels and networking opportunities. (Plus free food and unlimited coffee, which never hurts.) So I obviously knew it would be an inspiring day.

Free (pink!) Baked by Melissa cupcakes! Melissa Ben-Ishay was also a guest speaker.

Barbara Corcoran (if you don’t know who she is, stop reading this and check out her article from Inc. here), was discussing what makes a successful entrepreneur. Among other distinctions, Barbara said entrepreneurs aren’t afraid of failure. Instead, they’re motivated by it. She said that it’s not failure that scares people. Anyone who’s ever failed probably can look back and know that great things came from what seemed at the time to be the worst thing ever (yes, yes, yes!). But it’s the fear of failure that stops people, especially women.

This really resonated with me as I’ve realized in the last couple months that I have been fearful of so many things in my life that actually aren’t scary at all. Instead, facing them has lead to my most rewarding moments.

The first time I remember experiencing fear. For real, that slide was scary and I remember getting to that point and turning around and going back down the steps over and over until I asked my mom to take my picture so I would HAVE to go down. Once I did it, it was so fun! Why did it take another 25 years to learn that I shouldn’t be afraid of so much?

In terms of Pinkly Perfect, I was terrified of launching my website, afraid to promote blog articles I wrote, nervous to admit success, or ask questions when I didn’t understand something. In my personal life, I was afraid to look like an idiot at the gym, tell people they hurt me, say goodbye to people who brought me down more than they lifted me up, or go in the ocean alone (watch out, Summer 2017).

But all of those fears, after I faced them, weren’t scary at all! I wouldn’t have any revenue without my website, I love writing blog articles, I am proud of my success, I understand things that were once confusing, I can eat my favorite summer sweetswithout hating myself, I don’t hold grudges, and I genuinely like everyone in my life. (Will report back next summer how going in the ocean alone goes!)

Even though this was a lesson geared towards entrepreneurs, I really hope it can resonate with girls at all different stages of their lives. Asking questions in class could lead to more As, trying out for the basketball team could just as easily mean making the basketball team rather than getting cut, telling someone how you really feel could lead to meeting someone way better for you, and trying new things could lead to recognizing your life’s passion rather than coasting by on other people’s expectations of you.

While I attempt to go through life even more fearless than I’ve been, I hope you join me!

Amy Rothstein is the founder of Dona Chai (pronounced “Donna”), a chai tea concentrate brewing company based in Brooklyn, New York. We sat down with her at a local cafe for–you guessed it–a chai latte and a chat about a college class that changed her life, her mom’s creepy childhood doll, and what it takes to run a company that stocks across the country.

PP: What inspired you to start Dona Chai?

AR: In college I was an environmental studies major and took a class about the ecology, politics, and ethics of food. I didn’t realize that there was more to food than just cooking or eating it, and I was intrigued. I decided I wanted to study food further, and entered a graduate program at NYU for food studies. I went to a lot of coffee shops in my first semester to do homework, and noticed that while there was a strong culture of locally-roasted coffee, there was no parallel focus on locally-blended teas. That’s when the idea for Dona Chai came to me.

PP: What sets Dona Chai apart?

AR: For one thing, the recipe. I spent the summer between my first and second years of graduate school wholly devoted to perfecting the tea recipe. “Chai” is actually a very broad term that simply means tea blended with spices, so there is no set recipe. After three months of experimenting, I settled on a blend of molasses, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, green cardamom, black peppercorns, cloves, and black tea, that I was absolutely confident in. [Editor’s note: the Dona Chai latte I sipped while talking to Amy was hands down the best chai latte I’ve ever had.] The other thing that sets Dona Chai apart is that I am relentlessly critical of the company and product. It sounds negative but the constant evaluation helps me make sure that the product is the absolute best it can be.

PP: What is the hardest part of running a company?

AR: Well, I can tell you what the easiest part of the company was for me–the name! My mom had a creepy childhood doll named Dona who sat in my grandmother’s living room. I wasn’t allowed to play with her; somehow Dona is the first name that came to mind when I was thinking of a name. I know that the story doesn’t make sense to most people, but the name is perfect to me. Another thing that is easy is waking up in the morning. I am eager to get to work! [For more about Amy’s daily life, check out this article about her on Forbes.] Keeping up with the fast pace of a growing company is always an exciting challenge. Thankfully, my brother is on the Dona Chai team. His degree is in business, so his analytical skills complement my skill set. We’ve grown to 6 employees, so I’m not doing everything myself.

PP: How has being a woman affected your business?

AR: I’ve been lucky enough to meet fellow female entrepreneurs. I went to a women’s summit hosted by Forbes called 20/40; it matched up female entrepreneurs in their 20s with those in their 40s for mentorship advice. I’ve learned that the more people you talk to, the better; that’s something I’m working on as the company grows. Women are supportive of each other.

If you can’t resist a good tea photo, the Dona Chai Instagram is your new happy place.

PP: What have you learned about yourself in this process?

AR: I’ve discovered a bunch of new interests. I’m getting more interested in the graphic design, photography, and marketing elements of the business. I’ve also started developing recipes that use Dona Chai–it’s not just for lattes!–so that’s been fun.

PP: Have there been any surprises?

AR: There are always surprises in running a small business. One thing I certainly wasn’t expecting was meeting my boyfriend through work! I walked into his cafe to sell him some chai, and we’ve been dating for two years. We’re both small business owners, so we understand what the other goes through each day.

PP: How will you know when you’ve achieved success?

AR: When I feel like I can go on a vacation and things will be ok in my absence. I’m looking forward to that day!